'I shan't say what I think about her,' said Anthea, primly,
'because it would be evil speaking, lying, and slandering.'

'It's not lying to say she's a disagreeable pig, and a beastly
blue-nosed Bozwoz,' said Cyril, who had read The Eyes of Light, and
intended to talk like Tony as soon as he could teach Robert to talk
like Paul.

And all the children, even Anthea, agreed that even if she wasn't
a blue-nosed Bozwoz, they wished cook had never been born.

But I ask you to believe that they didn't do all the things on
purpose which so annoyed the cook during the following week, though
I daresay the things would not have happened if the cook had been
a favourite. This is a mystery. Explain it if you can. The
things that had happened were as follows:

Sunday.--Discovery of foreign mud on both sides of the carpet.

Monday.--Liquorice put on to boil with aniseed balls in a saucepan.
Anthea did this, because she thought it would be good for the
Lamb's cough. The whole thing forgotten, and bottom of saucepan
burned out. It was the little saucepan lined with white that was
kept for the baby's milk.

Tuesday.--A dead mouse found in pantry. Fish-slice taken to dig
grave with. By regrettable accident fish-slice broken. Defence:
'The cook oughtn't to keep dead mice in pantries.'

Wednesday.--Chopped suet left on kitchen table. Robert added